Maitland MP Robyn Parker has acknowledged the parents who fought hard to get the $8 million needed for Hunter River Community School.
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“There have been lots of parents lobbying a long time for this and I congratulate them,” she said at Thursday’s official opening.
The state government built the school at Metford using $7.6 million in federal funds left over from the Building Education Revolution.
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon announced the funds in August 2012 and Paterson MP Bob Baldwin officially opened the school.
The school caters for about 60 students with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities and had operated out of demountables at East Maitland for more than a decade.
This was a temporary site since the school had outgrown the South Street grounds at Telarah in 2001.
“Seeing the students here today, so strongly supported by their learning community, makes me excited about the future of Hunter River Community School and the future of our nation,” Mr Baldwin said.
Mr Baldwin represented Senator Scott Ryan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, while Ms Parker
represented Minister for Education and Communities Adrian Piccoli.
School principal Ian Hughes said the school had everything and more that staff could have asked for from the hydro therapy pool to a sensory garden.
“This school is beyond our expectations,” Mr Hughes said.
Ladies and gentlemen, special guests
Welcome to our new school.
I would like to read you a short story I wrote about our fabulous school.
I like my new school. I like all the new buildings and all the coloured doors. I like my new classroom.
There is only one thing I wish was better; I wish the recycle-garbage truck would come on time. I’m happy we got the money to build a new school. I hope everyone likes our school as much as I do.
